This invention relates to telephone monitoring equipment and, more particularly, to a system which monitors the proper functioning of a telephone pay station.
Most telephone companies provide pay telephone stations at various locations throughout an area being covered.
Such pay stations are available for public use but are, generally, not regularly monitored by the telephone companies. Because of their availability and access to the public, they are frequent objects of vandalism and neglect. They are also subject to the hazards of environmental conditions which severely effect the pay telephone equipment and often prevent its proper functioning. In addition, malfunctions may occur directly due to equipment failure because of internal components or service difficulties.
When a pay telephone station is inoperative, the telephone company is financially damaged since they cannot receive the normal revenue from the use of such phone. The public is also harmed by not having the availability of a phone in that area. At present, most companies depend upon customer reporting of the malfunction of telephone pay stations. However, this has been found to be most inefficient. Many customers, when they find the pay station inoperative, will simply move on to the next pay phone and never report the difficulty. One telephone system has found this problem of such aggravation that they have embarked upon a program referred to as "take five" in which they encourage their employees to check our five pay stations each day on their way to or from work.